{"id":218,"date":"2021-11-30T21:36:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T21:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/?page_id=218"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:22:12","slug":"arnold-adoff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/arnold-adoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Arnold Adoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>\n\t\t\tArnold Adoff\t<\/h2>\n\t<p>Arnold Adoff was born in 1935 in the city of New York, New York. While being a poet himself, he was also known for collecting the works of Black authors to compose anthologies. He did this in the conviction that there wasn&#8217;t enough Black literature available in the schools where he taught, although he clarified once for the\u00a0<em>Cincinnati Enquirer<\/em>, &#8220;I am NOT an expert on black life or culture or even black poetry. I am a continuing student.&#8221; He also told them &#8220;we do not need any more white experts on black anything in this country.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, for his own work, Adoff drew heavily upon his own experiences. One of the themes he chose to focus on was interracial families, being married to fellow children&#8217;s author Virginia Hamilton and raising their two kids Leigh and Jaime. His appreciation for music was what led him to writing poetry in the reminiscence of a melody.<\/p>\n<figure itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/Adoff.png\" alt=\"Black and white signature of Arnold Adoff.\" title=\"Adoff\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<figure data-animation-delay=\"0\" data-animation-duration=\"1\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/Arnold-Adoff.jpg\" alt=\"Arnold Adoff with smoothed back brown hair and a white vest, red smiling for the camera.\" title=\"Arnold-Adoff\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption>1988 festival with Arnold Adoff<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t<p>For a\u00a0<em>Something About the Author<\/em> biography, he is quoted as saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I began writing for kids because I wanted to effect a change in American society. By the time we reach adulthood, we are closed and set in our attitudes&#8230;. But I can open a child&#8217;s imagination, develop his appetite for poetry, and most importantly show him that poetry is a natural part of everyday life. We all need someone to point out that the emperor has no clothes. That&#8217;s the poet&#8217;s job&#8230;. I know, too, that I write for children because the child in me is still very much alive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure data-animation-delay=\"0\" data-animation-duration=\"1\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/0F429687-9435-4006-BBFB-03FE75EFBFDA-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"The whole poster is cream white with brown print. At the top, Arnold Adoff&#039;s name is featured in a large script. Directly below is an illustration of running rabbits with a very small caption reading, &quot;Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich 85.&quot; Additional text further below is, &quot;Mr. Adoff says, &#039;writing a poem is making music with words and spaces.&#039; He has written on topics as diverse as sports, the delights of food and interracial interfaith families.&quot; In quotes in a medium script below this is the title, &quot;Voices of the Coordinated, the Integrated and the Fixated: Contemporary Poems Read &amp;amp; Discussed by the Poet,&quot; and below it the information, &quot;Thursday April 14, 1988. 11:00 &amp;amp; 3:30. Student Union. Alumni Room.&quot; In smaller text at the very bottom of the poster is, &quot;Arnold Adoff&#039;s awards and honors include: The American Library Association Notable Books &#039;All the Colors of the Race&#039; and &#039;Eats&#039;; The National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry Award, 1988 &#039;Body of Work&#039;, and many others.&quot;\" title=\"0F429687-9435-4006-BBFB-03FE75EFBFDA\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption>Poster for 1988 session with Arnold Adoff<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/peter-z-cohen\/\"  target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2190 Peter Z. Cohen\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/sandy-asher\/\"  target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSandy Asher \u2192\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arnold Adoff Arnold Adoff was born in 1935 in the city of New York, New York. While being a poet himself, he was also known for collecting the works of Black authors to compose anthologies. He did this in the conviction that there wasn&#8217;t enough Black literature available in the schools where he taught, although&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-218","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arnold Adoff - The Children&#039;s Literature Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/childrenslitfest\/arnold-adoff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arnold Adoff - The Children&#039;s Literature Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arnold Adoff Arnold Adoff was born in 1935 in the city of New York, New York. 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